The Book
by Nacho the Greato
Summary: I have a mutated gene. This gives me superhuman abilaties. There are others like me, and people want our powers.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: The Girl in the Corner

We lived in a mental institution, Kelly and I. There was really no reason to put us in the asylum, for there was nothing mentally wrong with either of us. I think they kept us there for their own entertainment. They tortured us often, and every time with a new method. We've tried to escape more than once, but every time has been a failure. Today we had an escape plan, and it was fool proof.

I glanced at the bright white walls, and waited for the guard to let me out for lunch. I was anxious to see how this would all turn out. The bright white door creaked open, and a man in a bright white suit stepped in.

"It's time for lunch, Morgan," he said in a voice that implied he was talking to a small child.

I sighed and let the man take off my straight jacket. As soon as he slid it off I pounded him with several punches to the head and unarmed him of his gun and taser. When he tried to get off the ground to fight back, I ax-kicked his head, and I ran out the door. _One down, about ninety nine to go,_ I thought.

I ran out of the room in my bright white clothes. Nearly all of the asylum was the same color: white. The walls were white; the floors were white; even people's clothes were white! It was blinding to walk down the halls, but the up side was that when one is trying to escape, the workers are so blinded by the walls that they can barely see the person.

When I got to Kelly's room there were 2 guards stationed outside her door, which I immediately shot. I opened the door to Kelly's room, and was just in time to see her knocking out the guard.

Kelly is six years old. I have known her since she was a baby. Kelly has been in the mental institution for her entire life, and for that life I have acted as a mother to her. Kelly has a light blond hair and blue eyes. If she were a few years older we could be twins. She is wearing clothes that are much too big for her and are—you'll never guess—white. Kelly is tall and mature for her age; she has been through more in her six years than most people have for their entire lives.

I gave her the hurry up motion, and we ran out the door, where we met about fifteen guards. Kelly looked at me with her big, blue eyes, terrified of what would happen next. I gave her a reassuring glance, but it did not seem to comfort her because the guards started inching towards us. They had their guns and tasers pointed towards Kelly and me. That moment, I thought we were going to die, and I was about to embrace it, but I had an idea. An idea so simple and child-like, that it just might work.

"Shoot on three," I whispered.

"One… two… THREE!" I shouted, and I blasted fire out of my fingertips, while at the same time, Kelly shot water out of her hands.

The guards were screaming and running in all directions. It was pure chaos. Kelly and I ran down the hall, and I practically flew out the door. Only when I was out the door looking down on Kelly, did I realize that I was actually flying. As soon as I figured this out, I was plummeting to the ground. _Crap, as soon as I do something cool I screw it up. That's me alright_, I thought.

I hit the ground hard, and I had a burning pain in my shoulder. My vision started to clear, and I became aware of my situation. I quickly got up, becoming more and more aware of the pain in my thigh. I started walking, pushing through the pain, and gradually turned it into a run. I followed close behind Kelly, heading towards the woods.

"Do you even know where you're going?" I shouted at Kelly.

"I know that I'm getting away from the nut house!" She screamed back.

That was good enough for me, so I said nothing further.

We ran into the woods ducking below tree branches, and avoiding roots. We ran for a few minutes, enduring much pain, before we finally skidded to a stop. Before us was a large, old warehouse. We walked around to the front and found the door.

Before I opened the door, I asked Kelly, "Do you think it's abandoned?"

"By the looks of it, I would say yes," she replied.

Slowly I opened the door and saw thousands of pillows. As I scanned the contents of the room, I gasped, for in the corner, there was a girl who was ready to attack.

The girl looked about my age, however she was a tad bit taller (I'm pretty short, so that's no surprise). She had milky brown hair and eyes to match. Her clothes looked raggedy and dirty and they were noticeably too small for her.

Before I could react, she shot a bolt of lightning out of her hand. I quickly jumped the other way and shot a wave of fire at her. She blocked it with what looked like a shield made of air, and then she disappeared into the shadows, literally.

We were so relieved that she was gone, that we didn't realize when she was coming behind us to knock us out.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: The Beginning

I woke up in a panicked state. I could not move my hands, for they were tied behind my back with a splintering rope. I could not talk, for my mouth was painfully gagged with a handkerchief that nearly prevented me from breathing. You can see how I would be panicked with a gagged mouth and roped up hands. I could also not remember where I was. It seemed that I was in a large room that was filled to the brink with pillows.

I looked in front of me and I saw the girl. My memories started flooding back. It was the very girl that shot electricity at us a few moments ago. The girl was pacing, and, almost as if I could read her mind, I sensed that she was wondering what to do with us.

I focused on Kelly, wondering if I could do the same with her. She was much panicked, and she didn't know what was going to happen to us. She was also, unsuccessfully, trying to untie her hands.

After a while I figured out that I could burn through the rope that tied my hands. I rubbed my newly freed wrists; they were full of splinters and rope burn. I could tell that the girl was rushed when she put the ropes on us; that or she wanted us to feel pain. I had a nagging feeling it was the second one.

I untied the gag, and felt a large jolt of electricity. I fell to my knees and begged for mercy, which I did not get.

Suddenly, the girl's shoes caught on fire and she started shrieking, and then she disappeared into thin air. I looked around and when I saw no sign of the girl, I untied Kelly, whose wrists were also in a state of despair. I felt sorry for her, as I always do when she is in pain.

"WHO THE CRAP WAS THAT?" Kelly screamed.

"Kelly, what have I told you about using that kind of language?" I asked rhetorically.

"My name is Meghan, and I have the same mutation as you," said a voice that came from behind me.

"The real question is, 'who are you?'" she continued.

"I'm Kelly and this is Morgan. We were held in a mental institution and tortured, but we escaped and now they are looking for us," Kelly explained.

_Nice going, Kelly, you tell everything about us to the same girl that just held us captive and almost killed me. Smart,_ I thought.

"I was held in a mental institution as well, but I escaped when I was five, and I've been learning how to control my abilities ever since," she replied.

"I came into the mental institution when I was five; Kelly's been there for her whole life, but we don't know anything about our abilities," I said; now not caring about what I thought this girl should know and not know. She looked friendly enough.

"So you," she said, pointing at me, "can control fire, right?"

"Yup, I can also fly and I think read people's thoughts," I replied.

"And you," she pointed at Kelly, "What can you do?"

"I can control water, but that's all," she said.

"Interesting, I think I can help you guys out with control," Meghan replied.

So that was how it began: a serendipitous encounter in a pillow warehouse where both parties, total strangers, mind you, are trying to escape from the same terror.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Greg Gregory and Other Adventures

I was about to say something, but, outside the door, there was the sound of footsteps. The door handle slowly started turning and we all leaped into a pile of pillows.

The door creaked open and revealed a buff man in a police uniform. He walked through the room as of he were looking for something. He continued to walk, stopping at piles of pillows occasionally. When he walked past me, I saw a badge hanging on his waist. It read:

GREG GREGORY, SHERIFF, MENTAL HOSPITAL

A vision passed through my head. It started in a dull, poorly-lit room. Greg sat on a beige couch, smiling while watching television and drinking whisky. Then a woman walked through the door and Greg's expression turned dark. He drank the last bit of whisky and stumbled to the kitchen. He opened a drawer and took something out of it. Slowly he walked over to the terrified woman and brutally stabbed her to death.

When the vision ended, I felt a burning hatred towards Greg, but I didn't know why. I focused all my energy on him, forcing him to stop breathing. He collapsed to the ground, grasping his throat while trying to breathe. I could feel what this was taking out of me, but the hatred kept me going.

Meghan burst out of the pillows, breaking my concentration.

"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING?" she screamed.

Meghan ran over to Greg, who was unmoving. She put her electrically charged hands to his chest and jump-started his heart. His eyes started to open.

"KEEP HIS EYES CLOSED!" Meghan shouted.

"HOW?" I scream back.

"CONCENTRATE!" She answered.

So I took the last bit of my energy to keep his eyes closed while Meghan dragged him outside.

When she came back in she looked furious. Her brown hair draped over her face, and her dark brown eyes formed a glare. She slammed the door to the warehouse and stomped to me.

"What was that?" she said, trying to stay calm.

"I accidentally read his mind, and he was thinking about when he killed a woman. I don't know who she was, but I lost it, and I did the thing I thought was best: make him experience what the woman did," I explained.

"WE ARE NOT MURDERERS!" she screamed.

"Fine, I'll try not to kill anyone," I muttered.

"Wow that was quite a show. I'm beat," Kelly said as she emerged from a pile of pillows.

"Me too, let's go to sleep," I said.

I made my bed of pillows in the back corner of the room, and I quickly dozed off thanks to my earlier stunt.

When I woke up, Kelly was floating in the air on her pillows, still asleep.

"KELLY!" I shouted.

Kelly screamed and the pillows fell, with Kelly right behind them.

"What was that for?" Kelly asked.

"You were kind of floating on pillows," I replied.

"What's with all the noise?" Meghan asked groggily.

"I have another ability! I can move things with my mind!" Kelly exclaimed.

"Great, and Morgan, I was thinking about what you did last night, and I know how to train you," Meghan said, now more awake.

"How?" I asked.

"You need to kill Kelly," she replied, a little more excited than she should be.

"What?" I asked, wary of this new "training" technique.

"What?" Kelly asked, sounding a little scared.

"We start training immediately," Meghan said with a sick smile.

"Okay, but what do I do?" I asked.

"Focus, and in your mind, tell her heart to stop and her lungs to close," Meghan answered.

_Okay. I can do this. All I have to do is kill my six-year-old best friend_, I thought. I continued, _Ummm... Hello? Kelly's brain, are you there? I'm here to kill you. I want your heart to stop right now... Now... Now..._

"Aagh! It won't work!" I screamed.

"It's okay, just try again," Meghan said in a calm voice, with the same sickly smile as before.

I sighed. With the rage of my last failure, I thought_, Kelly, I command your heart to stop. Die Kelly, I need you to die NOW!_ Kelly fell to the ground, grasping at her chest, her movements getting slower and weaker.

"Restart her heart already!" I screamed at Meghan.

"This is the second part of your training, bring her back to life," Meghan commanded.

Rage gathered in my body. I could feel it in every muscle, in every vein. My hair caught fire because of my rage. _Kelly! Kelly, you need to come back_, I thought, fighting back tears. _Live, Kelly! I command your heart to start_, I continued.

On the floor, Kelly started gasping for air, and her movements became fluent and smooth again. I sighed with relief, and tears of joy ran down my face. The fire on my hair died down and went out. _I just killed my best friend and brought her back to life—that takes skill_, I thought.

We rejoiced, but our victory was short-lived, for we heard the sound of leaves crunching. We all jumped into piles of pillows, and readied ourselves to attack. The door opened, letting an enormous amount of light into the warehouse, and revealing a tall girl with golden blonde hair and emerald green eyes that were filled with fear. She did not look like she was working for the asylum, but like she was running from it.

Chapter 3: Greg Gregory and Other Adventures

I was about to say something, but, outside the door, there was the sound of footsteps. The door handle slowly started turning and we all leaped into a pile of pillows.

The door creaked open and revealed a buff man in a police uniform. He walked through the room as of he were looking for something. He continued to walk, stopping at piles of pillows occasionally. When he walked past me, I saw a badge hanging on his waist. It read:

GREG GREGORY, SHERIFF, MENTAL HOSPITAL

A vision passed through my head. It started in a dull, poorly-lit room. Greg sat on a beige couch, smiling while watching television and drinking whisky. Then a woman walked through the door and Greg's expression turned dark. He drank the last bit of whisky and stumbled to the kitchen. He opened a drawer and took something out of it. Slowly he walked over to the terrified woman and brutally stabbed her to death.

When the vision ended, I felt a burning hatred towards Greg, but I didn't know why. I focused all my energy on him, forcing him to stop breathing. He collapsed to the ground, grasping his throat while trying to breathe. I could feel what this was taking out of me, but the hatred kept me going.

Meghan burst out of the pillows, breaking my concentration.

"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING?" she screamed.

Meghan ran over to Greg, who was unmoving. She put her electrically charged hands to his chest and jump-started his heart. His eyes started to open.

"KEEP HIS EYES CLOSED!" Meghan shouted.

"HOW?" I scream back.

"CONCENTRATE!" She answered.

So I took the last bit of my energy to keep his eyes closed while Meghan dragged him outside.

When she came back in she looked furious. Her brown hair draped over her face, and her dark brown eyes formed a glare. She slammed the door to the warehouse and stomped to me.

"What was that?" she said, trying to stay calm.

"I accidentally read his mind, and he was thinking about when he killed a woman. I don't know who she was, but I lost it, and I did the thing I thought was best: make him experience what the woman did," I explained.

"WE ARE NOT MURDERERS!" she screamed.

"Fine, I'll try not to kill anyone," I muttered.

"Wow that was quite a show. I'm beat," Kelly said as she emerged from a pile of pillows.

"Me too, let's go to sleep," I said.

I made my bed of pillows in the back corner of the room, and I quickly dozed off thanks to my earlier stunt.

When I woke up, Kelly was floating in the air on her pillows, still asleep.

"KELLY!" I shouted.

Kelly screamed and the pillows fell, with Kelly right behind them.

"What was that for?" Kelly asked.

"You were kind of floating on pillows," I replied.

"What's with all the noise?" Meghan asked groggily.

"I have another ability! I can move things with my mind!" Kelly exclaimed.

"Great, and Morgan, I was thinking about what you did last night, and I know how to train you," Meghan said, now more awake.

"How?" I asked.

"You need to kill Kelly," she replied, a little more excited than she should be.

"What?" I asked, wary of this new "training" technique.

"What?" Kelly asked, sounding a little scared.

"We start training immediately," Meghan said with a sick smile.

"Okay, but what do I do?" I asked.

"Focus, and in your mind, tell her heart to stop and her lungs to close," Meghan answered.

_Okay. I can do this. All I have to do is kill my six-year-old best friend_, I thought. I continued, _Ummm... Hello? Kelly's brain, are you there? I'm here to kill you. I want your heart to stop right now... Now... Now..._

"Aagh! It won't work!" I screamed.

"It's okay, just try again," Meghan said in a calm voice, with the same sickly smile as before.

I sighed. With the rage of my last failure, I thought_, Kelly, I command your heart to stop. Die Kelly, I need you to die NOW!_ Kelly fell to the ground, grasping at her chest, her movements getting slower and weaker.

"Restart her heart already!" I screamed at Meghan.

"This is the second part of your training, bring her back to life," Meghan commanded.

Rage gathered in my body. I could feel it in every muscle, in every vein. My hair caught fire because of my rage. _Kelly! Kelly, you need to come back_, I thought, fighting back tears. _Live, Kelly! I command your heart to start_, I continued.

On the floor, Kelly started gasping for air, and her movements became fluent and smooth again. I sighed with relief, and tears of joy ran down my face. The fire on my hair died down and went out. _I just killed my best friend and brought her back to life—that takes skill_, I thought.

We rejoiced, but our victory was short-lived, for we heard the sound of leaves crunching. We all jumped into piles of pillows, and readied ourselves to attack. The door opened, letting an enormous amount of light into the warehouse, and revealing a tall girl with golden blonde hair and emerald green eyes that were filled with fear. She did not look like she was working for the asylum, but like she was running from it.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: The New Girl

Kelly, I'm assuming, noticed this too because she jumped out from where she was hiding and introduced herself, "Hi, I'm Kelly, are you running from the mental hospital too?"

I heard Meghan think, _Kelly is so obnoxious_. I sent her the thought, _no she's not! _Then Meghan thought, _crap,_ _I forgot she could hear me_. I snickered.

Meghan and I trudged out of our piles, and greeted the girl grudgingly, "Hello."

"I'm from the mental hospital exchange program, and, several years ago, I escaped before they could put me in a new one. By the way my name is Keeley," she said.

"You guys are being so rude," Kelly whispered to us.

_What would she know about being polite? She's been locked up in an asylum for years, and I'm starting to figure out why_, I thought.

"This is Morgan, and this is Meghan," she continued, gesturing to us as she spoke.

Kelly spoke with Keeley for a while, and sometimes Meghan even joined in, but I went to the corner and practiced my abilities. I was trying to turn my entire hand into fire. So far, it wasn't working.

_Okay Morgan, concentrate. You can do this_, I thought. The only other time I caught anything on fire was when I was angry, so I thought back to when I killed Kelly. Suddenly, all the pillows around me caught on fire. _Crap, that's not what I meant to do_, I thought.

I quickly put out the fire and made a small controlled one in my hand.

Everyone started looking at me.

"Oops?" I said.

They quickly went back to talking about some mental hospital exchange program.

_Ok, I think my fire is good… or at least good enough. Now, what next? _I asked myself, _oh yeah, I can fly! But how… brain? Hello up there. I want to fly now. Did you hear me? I said, I want to fly NOW! _Nothing happened. I continued, _Ok, so commanding doesn't work. What else can I try? Getting angry is out of the question, and commanding obviously doesn't work, what else is there? Hmmm… I could be like the cartoon characters in the stupid cartoons that the mental hospital made me watch (a form of torture, of course) and 'imagine' myself flying. Huh, that might not be a bad idea, after all. Ok, in the cartoons, they just closed their eyes._

I closed my eyes._ Ok, now what? I just picture myself flying? Sounds easy enough,_ I thought. In my mind, I was high above the ground, almost touching the ceiling. I was almost afraid to open my eyes, but I did. When I opened my eyes, it was just like I imagined it, I was in the air, almost touching the ceiling. Luckily, I didn't fall this time. I flew around the top of the room, and I felt like Superman.

I flew back down to the floor to greet my staring friends. I had a huge grin on my face, for this was the only one of my powers that I didn't screw up or kill someone with.

"How did you do that?" Kelly asked, sounding amazed.

"Just like they do in the cartoons," I replied.

_She might be a good ally to have, _I heard Keeley think. Confused, I continued listening, but she said nothing of importance, just something about some guy named Austin. Still curious about Keeley, I decided to join the conversation. It was about our times in the mental hospital. _Pleasant,_ I thought.

As much as I wanted to know about Keeley, I got bored quickly with the dull conversation, so I settled with listening on her thoughts from afar. I walked over to a stack of pillows and pretended to practice my fire powers. Concentrating on Keeley, I only got a few sparks. _Should I show these powerless wimps who's boss, or should I keep going with the nice girl act? _I heard Keeley think. My hand ignited, but I quickly put it out before anyone noticed so I could continue listening. _Nice girl act, that way I can learn more about them, _she decided.

_I need to tell someone, but who? Kelly's too nice to suspect anything, so that only leaves Meghan. I hope she'll believe me, _I thought. _Meghan? Can you hear me? _I asked. _Yes. What do you need?_ She asked. _Keeley, she's not who she says she is. I heard her thoughts, _I replied. _Are you sure? _She thought to me. _Yes, so make sure Kelly doesn't mention anything about me reading minds so that I can continue listening in, _I thought. _Got it, _she replied.

I continued listening to Keeley, but she kept focusing on the conversation. Apparently she thought it was as dull and boring as I did. Eventually, sleep got the best of me, and I drifted off.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five: The Box

I was jolted awake, not physically, but mentally. I saw Keeley pacing around the room, so I quickly pretended I was asleep. I started listening in on Keeley's thoughts. _Austin will be so happy when I bring these idiots back to him, _Keeley thought. I suppressed my rage and continued listening. _It would be even better if they were fully trained, then he could torture them twice as much, _she thought. I cringed at the memory of my time back in the mental hospital. _He can come up with new torture methods and everything, I better go call him, _she thought as she flipped her cell phone open and walked outside. I got up and went to the door so I could listen in on her conversation.

"Hello? Austin?" she asked.

"Yeah, I found them," she said.

There was a pause.

"What if we trained them and then captured them?" she asked

"Yeah, you've told me again and again, but we can't just waste this kind of power," she persisted.

"What if we transferred their power to us?" Keeley asked.

"Ok, so I'll train them, then I'll bring them to you," she clarified.

"Ok, bye," she said, as she closed her cell phone.

I jumped back to the pillows I was lying on just as Keeley walked in the door. _Ok, train first, then I can drain them of their powers, _she thought. I yawned and got up.

"Hey Keeley, sorry I was so rude yesterday, I was tired from Meghan training me," I said, pretending to be nice.

"Hey… so ya'll all have powers?" she asked.

"Yeah, don't you?" I asked out of real curiosity.

"Yeah, I'm just not used to other people being like me. What can you do?" she asked.

"I think you've seen what I can do, control fire and fly. What can you do?" I asked.

"I can control plants, talk to animals, and shape shift," she replied.

"Cool," I said.

_Shape shifting? She's a real liability, but, on the other hand, she could be an asset if we can get her on our side, _I thought.

"Well, I can help you, if you want," she said.

"No thanks, Meghan already started training me yesterday," I said.

"Oh. Does she know how to use her powers?" Keeley asked.

Before I could respond, Kelly started floating up in the air on pillows, but this time, she wasn't asleep.

"I see you guys have met," Kelly said.

"Yup," Keeley replied.

"Are you guys gonna wake me up every morning?" Meghan asked groggily.

"Yep," I replied.

_Keeley talked about training us, then bringing us to some guy named Austin, who she called before you and Kelly woke up, _I thought to Meghan. _Do you know who Austin is? _Meghan asked. _No, but she thinks of him fondly. I think he's her boyfriend or something, _I told Meghan. _Ah, I see. We need to keep Kelly away from her, _she said. _I agree, _I thought.

"Umm, do you guys have some mind speak thing going on? You've been staring at each other for a while," Keeley told us.

"Actually-" Kelly was cut off.

"We had an argument before you got here, and it hasn't worn off," I said, and Kelly glared at me.

_She's getting suspicions, and Kelly's catching on. What do we do? _I asked Meghan, while still looking at Keeley and Kelly. _I don't know, but I think we should tell Kelly, _Meghan thought.

"Well, we better get training," I said.

"Keeley, why don't you work with Kelly, and Morgan and I will try to work things out," Meghan said.

"Good idea, Meghan," I said. "We should train outside, Meghan, so I can work on flying without hitting my head."

We walked outside.

"Do they seem a little off to you?" Keeley asked Kelly.

_Oh no! Kelly's going to tell Keeley about me reading minds! I have to stop her! Umm, Kelly? I command your brain to not tell Keeley that I can read and control minds. Did it work? I hope so._

"Ok, I think I made Kelly not tell Keeley that I could read minds," I told Meghan.

"Good, but I think Keeley is starting to catch on. We need to be less obvious," Meghan said.

"Right," I replied. "So I guess we should start."

"Yeah, so I can control air and turn into air, so you should be able to turn into fire," Meghan said.

"Ok, I'll try. You might want to stand back," I said.

Meghan took a step back. _So I just have to get really angry… the mental hospital makes me angry, _I thought to myself. I thought about all the torture methods that they used on little Kelly. The electric chair was terrible. They would knock us out with lethal injections, and then when we woke up we were tied down in an electric chair. They would set it to the highest setting and shock us over and over again until we almost passed out. Then they would put us in something we called the Box. It was 2 ft. by 2 ft. box with nails on every side. They would kick the Box over and over again. When we came out, we were in danger of dying of blood loss, but they would never let that happen. If we died, they wouldn't have anyone to torture.

With this much anger flowing in my veins, still only my bottom half caught on fire.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six: Kelly Learns the Truth

"Aagh! I can't do it!" I shouted.

"Well, how did you catch your lower half on fire?" Meghan asked.

"I got really angry," I told her.

"Well, try something else," she said. "That's not powerful enough."

"Umm, ok," I said.

_Ok I can try to get scared. That's what I did in the mental hospital when the guards were about to attack us. Umm, when have I been scared? _I thought. Back when I was almost 5, I was happy. I lived with my parents. My father was a police officer and my mother was a nurse. We were happy until they got me. On my 5th birthday, when I was about to blow out the candles on my cake, there was a loud bang, and then someone broke the door down. A bunch of people in bright white suits came in with guns and bullet proof vests. They grabbed me, and I screamed. When I did, the man holding me caught on fire, along with all the other men that broke in. Then, a woman walked in, she had light blond hair, and bright blue eyes. The woman was extremely tall. She also wore a bright white suit. Unlike everyone else, she didn't catch on fire. She simply walked in, grabbed me, and walked out. I can't remember being more terrified in my life.

I caught on fire. All of me in flames, but I didn't feel hot.

"Good," Meghan said.

Just then, I heard something.

"We need to leave, now!" I said.

I ran inside to get Kelly.

"Kelly, let's go! Now! Someone's coming!" I said.

"Ok," she said.

So we left the pillow warehouse for good. Kelly brought along a pillow so that she could fly on it, Keeley, who unfortunately had to tag along, shape shifted into a bird, Meghan made the wind currents strong enough to lift her, and I flew.

"Where exactly are we going?" Kelly asked.

"That way," I said, pointing in the direction we were heading.

"Yeah, but where?" Kelly asked, trying to be more specific (but failing).

"See those mountains?" I asked her.

Kelly nodded.

"I'm hoping there's a cave in one of them," I said.

"Ah," Kelly replied.

There was a long, awkward silence.

"I'll race ya'll there!" Kelly said, speeding ahead of Keeley, Meghan, and me.

I flew up ahead of Kelly and stuck my tongue out at her, gloating. But my victory didn't last long because Meghan adjusted the wind currents so that it would push her towards the mountains and us away from them.

"That's cheating!" Kelly shouted.

"Yeah, what are you gonna do about it?" Meghan asked.

Kelly shot water at Meghan, drenching her from head to toe.

"That!" Kelly shouted as she raced ahead of Meghan.

By the time we got to a good mountain cave, everyone had been soaked, electrocuted, and scorched at least once; we were all exhausted.

_When should we tell Kelly? _I thought to Meghan. _Maybe tomorrow, _Meghan replied. _Did you know that Keeley can shape shift into ANYTHING, control plants, and talk to animals? _I asked Meghan. _No. That sucks. _Meghan thought to me. _Well, be careful who you disclose your information to, because Keeley might have shape shifted to them. _I told her. _Right. Thanks. _Meghan thought.

"What are you guys doing?" Kelly asked.

"Well, we _were _having a staring contest until we were so rudely interrupted," I said.

"So, you two resolved your issues?" Keeley asked.

"Yup," Meghan replied.

"Oh, and Morgan?" she asked. "How did you know that those people were coming?"

"I, uh, heard them." Which wasn't, technically, a lie because I did hear them, I just heard their thoughts.

"Really? Because when we were flying they were a good quarter mile away from us," She said.

"Call it a 'weird girl's intuition,'" I said. "But how did you see them? We were, after all, in a heavily wooded area."

"Touché," she said.

"Uh, no. That's not going to cut it. I want an answer," I said.

"I… uh," she said.

"We can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way," I said, making a ball of flames in my hand, while, at the same time, Meghan channeled her electricity, making it jump between her fingers.

We started backing her into the wall.

"You guys don't understand," she said.

"We understand perfectly well. We heard your phone call with Austin, and we know all about your plan," I said.

"No! It's not like that!" she stammered.

"Should we tell Kelly? I'm sure she's dying to know," I threatened, turning to Kelly, who was in the corner, horrified.

"Kelly, she's a phony," I said, turning back to Keeley. "She tricked you, and as soon as we were all trained, she was going to take us back to her precious Austin and have us tortured, and then they were going to drain us of our powers."

"That's not true!" Keeley shouted as she hit the back wall of the cave.

I made my fire into chains, and I bound her to the wall.

"This is how this is gonna go down: you tell Kelly the truth, and every time you lie, I will tighten the chains and Meghan will shock you. Are you ready to talk?" I asked her.

"Ok, ok! Don't hurt me-," she said, but I cut her off.

"Delaying is gonna cost you," I said as I turned to Meghan. "Meghan."

Meghan electrocuted Keeley; she yelped in pain.

"Fine," she said, wincing from her last shock. "I'll talk. I was going to turn you in. I work for the mental hospital. They were hoping that you would too, but you kept refusing. They thought that if I got close with ya'll, that you would come back willingly, but after talking with you, I realized that you wouldn't come back with me, so I resorted to force. I was going to take you back and drain you of your powers. Everything you said was true."

"Thank you very much, but we can't just let you go-," I was cut off.

"No! She did what you asked, now let her go," Kelly said.

"Fine, but I'll know if you stay close," I said.

I made the chains disappear into ash, and Meghan moved so that she could get by. Keeley was eager to leave, she ran outside, but not before thanking Kelly.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Derek

"Ugh! I can't believe you let her get away!" I screamed at Kelly.

"Didn't we decide that we weren't murderers?" she asked, rhetorically.

"She deserved it! She was going to torture us and then drain us of our powers!" I told Kelly.

"We can't kill people. It's wrong," Kelly replied.

"If we don't, we'll never beat them! As a wise man once said, 'If people stand in your way, and they won't move, there's only one way to take them down, and that is killing them,'" I said.

"Who said that?" Kelly asked.

"It's an expression," I replied.

"I don't care what it is! Killing is bad!" Kelly persisted.

_Little help here, _I thought to Meghan.

"Morgan's right. They won't back down unless we make them," Meghan agreed.

"It might take some time to get used to the idea, but to beat them, killing is our only option," I said.

"There's got to be another way," Kelly said.

"Yes, but until we find it, murder is the only other plausible option," I said, lowering my voice.

"Fine, we'll do this your way, but once we find another option, we are not going to murder anymore, right?" She asked.

"You have my word… unless you change your mind by then," I said.

"I won't," Kelly promised as she stalked off to the far side of the cave.

_How does she know about what's right and wrong? She's been in an asylum her entire life, and brought up around crazy people that have no sense of morality, _I thought to myself. _It must be because she's still a child, _I decided. _I'm sure that in a few years she'll understand that evil things need to be destroyed, even if you have to do something evil to do it._ There was a long silence.

"Well, I'm gonna go explore the area. If I'm not back by morning… leave," I said as I walked out of the cave.

When I got outside, it was nearly dusk. The sun was beautifully setting over the mountains in the distance. _If I flew to the top of the mountain, the sunset would be even prettier, _I thought. So I flew to the top of the mountain and looked out. I saw everything. I saw the majestic mountains. I saw the tall trees. I saw the rigid rocks. I saw a hot guy. I saw- wait! A hot guy? In the mountains? I don't think so.

He stared at me with his milky brown eyes, with his sandy brown hair rippling in the wind. He started walking towards me and I froze. _Oh, no. Did he see me fly?_ I asked myself. He walked up to me and paused. _I really wish I had brushed my hair this morning, _I thought to myself, making sure I didn't accidentally project it to him.

"I'm Derek," he said in a "hot guy" kind of voice as he held his hand out for me to shake.

"Morgan," I said, shaking his hand.

"Um, not to be rude, but did you just _fly _up here?" he asked.

"Uh… I wanna say no, but yes," I replied.

"Cool, so you have a gene mutation, right?" he asked.

"Yeah…" I said.

"Me too," he said.

My jaw dropped. There _were only 4 people like me, and one was evil. If he _is_ like me are there others? _I asked myself.

"Are there more?" I asked.

"No," he replied, pushing his hair out of his face.

"Are you running from anyone?" I asked.

"No," he answered. Somehow his one word answers made him even hotter.

"So, um, what can you do?" I asked.

"I have super-speed, super-strength, and I can turn invisible," he said.

"Cool," I replied, "So you're here alone?"

"Yeah," Derek said.

"How long have you been here?" I asked.

"A week or so," he replied.

"Do you wanna come meet my friends?" I offered.

"Sure," he accepted.

So I took Derek to meet Meghan and Kelly.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: His Twin

When we got close to the cave, I decided to give Derek a warning.

"Uh, Derek," I said.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Meghan and Kelly might be a little… harsh at first, but they're good people," I said, remembering my first time meeting Meghan.

"Great…" he said sarcastically as we entered the cave.

"I'm back," I said.

Meghan and Kelly turned around, and their jaws dropped._ Dibs! _I thought to them. They quickly closed their mouths. _Kelly, _I thought to her scornfully. _Sorry, I couldn't help it, _ she replied meekly.

"Meghan, Kelly, this is Derek. Derek this is Meghan and this is Kelly," I said, pointing to each of them as I said their names.

"Hey," he said.

"He has the same mutation as us," I said.

"Yeah, I have super-strength, super-speed, and I can turn invisible," he said.

"Cool," Kelly said, regaining her usual talkativeness. "I can control water and move things with my mind, Meghan can control air, shadows, and electricity, and Morgan can control fire, fly, and…" she stopped, remembering that I told her not to tell about me being able to read and control minds.

_It's ok, he's cool, _I told Kelly.

"… and she can read and control minds, which is kinda scary, but she always gets what she wants," Kelly finished.

"Ok, well they didn't torture you, that's good," I told Derek, teasing Meghan.

Meghan glared at me, and I laughed.

"So, um, do you have anywhere to stay?" Meghan asked.

"Well I've been staying in the forest for the past week," Derek replied.

"Group meeting!" Kelly said.

Meghan, Kelly, and I gathered in a huddle.

"Should we let him in?" Kelly asked.

"The last time we let someone on the group, it didn't turn out so good," Meghan said, referring to Keeley.

"But I got negative thoughts off her. I didn't get any off Derek, even when he didn't know I could read minds," I said.

"Well let's vote on it," Kelly suggested.

"I vote yes," I said.

"I vote no," Meghan said.

"It's up to you, Kelly," I said.

"I vote… yes," Kelly said.

"Then it's decided," I said.

We got out of our huddle, and I walked over to Derek.

"Derek," I said. "Welcome to the group."

"Thanks," he said.

"Well, I guess you should get yourself set up," I said.

"Ok," he said as he walked over to the back of the cave.

Derek set himself up at the back of the cave, right beside where I was set up.

_Should I read his mind? _I asked myself. _On him, I feel that it's an intrusion, but what if Meghan's right and he is evil. I guess I will, just in case._

_Where is he? I hope he's not going to switch with me. I don't want to make a bad impression, _He thought. _Who would switch with you? _I asked. _What do you mean by that? _I continued. _Why are you listening? _He asked. _Safety issues. We do this with all our newbies, _I replied. _Oh, _He said. _Back to my first question, who would switch with you? _I asked. _His name is David, _He said, as if that explained anything. _Is he like a shape-shifter? _I asked. _No, he's my twin._


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Our Moment

_Your what? _I asked. _My twin… my evil twin, _he thought to me. _Evil twin? Can this get more stereotypical? _I asked him. He laughed, and Meghan and Kelly looked at him strangely. After they stopped looking at Derek he scooted closer to me.

"So you have an evil twin?" I whispered.

"Well by evil, I mean with the mental hospital," he replied.

"Yeah, that's about as evil as it gets," I said, my voice still low.

"He is after you guys. He's been spying on Meghan for months, but when you guys found her, it was an added bonus, I'm just glad I got here first," he said.

"What was he going to do to us?" I asked.

"I don't know, he doesn't exactly share his plans with me," he said.

I smiled.

"So, how can we tell you guys apart?" I asked.

"Well, he's mean, he has a crush on Meghan, he-," He was cut off.

"Wait! He has a crush on Meghan?" I asked, forgetting that Meghan and Kelly were with us.

Meghan looked at me.

"_What?_" she asked.

_Can I tell her? _I asked Derek. _Yeah, _He said.

"Um, well… so Derek has a twin, an identical twin," I told Meghan and Kelly.

_Score! _Meghan thought.

"This twin just happens to be working for the mental hospital," I informed them.

_Really? Really? Can I have just one normal boyfriend? _Meghan screamed in her mind.

"So, uh, if Derek suddenly starts crushing on Meghan, know something's up," I said. "Oh, and Derek, I'll be listening in on your thoughts regularly,"

"Great," he said.

"Ok, back to your business," I said as I walked with Derek back to where we were sitting.

We sat down, and the cave was silent for a while. _So, what can your brother do? _I thought to him. _He has something called power mimicry._ He replied. _What's that? _I asked. _He uses other people's powers. He can use your powers against yourself. _He said. _So you're saying that to learn to fight him, we need to learn to fight each other? _I asked. _Yeah, but he's strong. He can take your power and use it 10x better than you… except he can't take your powers, _He thought. _Why? _I asked. _Your ability to bend minds also functions as a shield, _he said. _Sweet, _I said.

"We need to start training tomorrow," I said to Meghan and Kelly. "I'll be in charge."

"Great," Kelly said as she and Meghan scooted closer to Derek and me, forming a circle between all of us.

"So, what are your twin's powers?" Kelly asked.

"David can take other people's powers, but not Morgan's her mind control works as a shield," Derek said.

Kelly started her nightly round of talking that keeps us all awake, "That really sucks because he can use water and electricity and he can get us in a puddle or something and electrocute us. And since he will be able to control shadows, he can just jump into one and dodge it…" Kelly continued for long after.

Somewhere in the midst of Kelly's talking, I found my head on Derek's shoulder. I smiled to myself, and continued not listening to Kelly, like everyone else. About an hour into Kelly's conversation with herself, I fell asleep.

I woke up in the same position I was when I fell asleep, sitting against the wall next to Derek. Meghan and Kelly had moved to opposite sides of the cave. I got up and walked to the edge of the cave. The sun was about to rise, so I sat down to watch it.

"Hey," Derek said a few minutes later.

"Hey," I replied.

"So…" He said.

"So, what?" I asked.

"Nothing," he said.

"What?" I asked.

"It's just weird to tell you out loud," he replied.

_Can think it to me? _I asked him.

"I can show you" he said.

He started leaning in to kiss me. _How do I do this? _I asked him, kind of ruining the moment. _I'll guide you, _he replied as his lips touched mine. It felt like a fairytale, but it was short-lived.

Almost as soon as our lips touched, a voice behind us said, "So, interesting morning so far?" It was Kelly.

_Really, Kelly? _I thought to her in an annoyed tone.

"Sorry, but the first thing I want to see when I wake up is not you guys' spit swap," she said.

I blushed.

"Awkward time to wake up," Meghan said tiredly.

By this time, my cheeks were on fire.

"Well, I guess I know what happened before I woke up," Meghan continued. "And-,"

_Meghan. Shut. Up. _I thought to her.

"So training," Derek said, changing the subject.

When I looked at him, his cheeks were really red.

"Fine," Kelly said, not done embarrassing me.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Training

"Ok, I've decided that to prepare ourselves for David, we need to fight each other," I said, my cheeks still burning.

"May I make a suggestion?" Derek asked.

"Sure," I said.

"Well, when I was little, I was I the mental hospital with my father and my brother. I was studying you guys. Meghan, when you ran away, you knew only some of your powers. We knew all of them. Morgan and Kelly, yours have not fully developed yet, but Kelly, your next one will be acid generation, and-," he was cut off.

"Awesome!" Kelly said.

"Morgan, your mind power truly intrigued us. You can access anything people have in their minds. Our powers are not originated from our minds, but that's how we access them. So Morgan, if you try to use their powers, it'll be just like David was here," Derek said.

"Finally! Revenge for killing me!" Kelly exclaimed.

"So how do I do that?" I asked after glaring at Kelly.

"I don't know, really, but think of it this way: your brain is a map. If you can get a hold of the map, you can navigate through the brain. You can make that person do anything you want. You're not actually using their powers, you're making them manipulate their powers so that it looks like you're using them," he said.

"I think I get it," I said.

"Who should I try it with first?" I asked.

"Meghan!" Kelly shouted.

"Wonderful," Meghan said.

_Just try to use her powers, _I thought. _Meghan, how do you use your lightning power? _I asked her. _I just do, here I'll use it and you stay in my head, _she replied. She used her lightning, and right as she did, lightning shot out of my finger tips.

"This is so cool!" I said.

"If you keep practicing, you'll be able to do it without Meghan having to do anything," Derek said. "You just have to learn to access that portion of her brain."

"Ok, let me try again," I persisted.

"Fine, but blast me and you're dead," she said.

I made Meghan imagine me shooting lightning out of my hands.

"Great, it works!" I said as lightning shot out of my hands.

"How do you work your air powers?" I asked Meghan.

"Same way I work the other one, I guess," she replied.

I made Meghan imagine air lifting me up off the ground.

"Cool, I think I've got it," I said, landing gracefully on the ground.

"Ok, now you guys need to fight, who first?" Derek asked.

"I'll do it," Kelly volunteered.

"Great. Morgan, you can't use any of you own powers, just Kelly's and Meghan's," Derek reminded me.

"Ok," I said.

"Let the battle begin!" he said.

Kelly quickly shot water out of her fingertips, but I reflected it with Meghan's shield of air, then I shot some of my borrowed lightning at her.

"Ouch," she said.

"That's how strategic David can be," Derek said. "Meghan, it's your turn."

"Great," she said sardonically.

"Let the battle begin!" he said.

I picked up a good sized rock with Kelly's mind power and flung it at Meghan, but she blocked it with an air shield. She sent a bolt of lightning at me, but I used her shadow power to shadow travel into Kelly's shadow. _Ice is water, right? _I asked myself. _Yep. _I replied. I stepped out from behind Kelly and flung ice shards at Meghan. They pinned her against the wall.

"How did you do that with my powers?" Kelly asked.

"Ice is made of water. By controlling water, you can control ice," I explained.

"Awesome!" Kelly exclaimed.

"Ok, you both failed. You need to get better or you won't stand a chance against David," Derek said. "Kelly, try again."

"Okay," she said hesitantly.

"Go," he said, getting bored.

Kelly shot ice shards at me, but I turned them into water and countered with a blast of lightning. She held up a boulder for defense. After she blocked the lightning, she threw the boulder at me, but I crushed it with Kelly's power. I started making it storm outside with Kelly's water power and Meghan's wind and lightning powers. I made the wind pin her against the wall.

"Now if I were David, I would drown you or shock you to death," I said.

"Ok. Why don't we call that a day, you guys must be exhausted," Derek suggested.

"I'm not tired at all," I said.

"That's because you use their energy when you use their powers," he said.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: A Troubled Childhood

"So what do we do for the rest of the day?" I asked Derek after Meghan and Kelly fell asleep.

"I don't know what you're going to do, but I'm going to take a walk," he said. "I'll see you in a few hours."

"Ok, bye," I replied.

"Hey, I've got a surprise for you tonight," he said.

"Okay," I said before he left.

_Hmm, what to do, what to do? _I asked myself after Derek left. _I can make a hair dryer so that I can look nice for tonight. _I suggested to myself. _Yeah, I'll do that; I just need to get a boulder to shape._

I soon found a boulder that I could mold with my fire powers. I molded it so it looked like a hair dryer. I put 2 holes in the back, one for air and one for fire. Then I melted a rock in the shape of a hairbrush. Once I finished I found a small cave, and I used Kelly's water power and my fire power to give myself a warm shower. Then I dried my hair using my fire power and Meghan's air power. By the end I felt clean and refreshed, but it was almost time for sunset.

I went back to the cave to see Meghan and Kelly glaring at me.

"Hey, ya'll," I said.

"Did you use our powers?" Meghan asked.

"Yeah, uh, about that… I made a shower, a hair dryer, and a hair brush today," I said, changing the subject.

"And you needed our powers?" Kelly asked, astonished.

"Well, I kind of needed your water power for the shower," I told Kelly.

"And mine?" Meghan asked.

"I used it for the hair dryer," I said.

"Why did you need these things?" Kelly asked.

"Well I was bored, and…" I stopped, thinking they would embarrass me again.

"Out with it!" Meghan said.

"Derek said he had a surprise for me," I said quickly. "But shut up about it!"

"Fine, got it. No need to be snappy," Meghan said.

"Well, you do look nice," Kelly said.

"Thanks," I said. "I'll show you the tiny cave I used later. It's not that far from here."

"I have something in my pack that might fit you," Meghan said as she walked over to her backpack. "I picked it up a while a go when I was sneaking into a banquet or something, spying on the Mental Hospital."

She held up a cute sundress.

"Awesome, thanks," I told her. "I'll go change."

I walked to my shower cave and changed. When I got out, I saw Derek walking towards the cave.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey," he replied, turning towards me. "You look nice."

"Thanks, it was a result of my boredom," I replied.

"Come with me, I've got to show you something," he said, clutching my hand in his.

We were walking up the mountain, and when we almost got to the top, Derek said, "Close your eyes."

"Okay," I said.

We walked for a little longer.

"How long do I have to do this?" I asked.

"Not much longer," he said.

We walked for a minute more and Derek said, "Ok, now you can open your eyes."

When I opened them, we were at the top of a small mountain. Derek had made makeshift seats out of small boulders and a makeshift table out of a large boulder.

"Wow," I said in awe.

"So you like it?" he asked.

"I love it," I replied.

"Cool. I got us dinner too, kind of," he said, gesturing to a pile of fruits and a lump of something.

"What's that?" I asked, pointing to the lump of brown stuff.

"That's raw beef," he said.

"Oh," I said picking it up.

I started a fire in my hand and cooked the beef.

"Cool," Derek said, putting the fruits on the table.

I sat down and picked up an apple.

"So you can turn invisible?" I asked, taking a bite of the apple.

"Yeah, do you wanna see?" he asked.

"Sure," I replied.

I blinked and he was gone.

"Wow," I said. "That's cool."

"Yeah," he said, reappearing. "You wanna see me run to that mountain and back?"

"Sure," I replied, taking another bite of the apple.

"You wanna see me do it again?" he asked.

I laughed and asked, "Did you really run that fast?"

"Yeah. Why, do you not believe me?" he asked.

"Well, it's just that that was inhumanly fast," I replied.

"And your mind reading power is soooo human-like," he said, sarcastically.

"Touché," I said.

I finished the apple. _Why am I even eating an apple? Apples are rubbish, _I thought to myself.

"So your brother works for the mental hospital?" I clarified.

"Yeah, we really have a dysfunctional family," he replied.

I smiled and asked, "So you two have an… awkward relationship?"

"Yeah, when we were kids, I remember him always stealing my powers," he answered. "He never knew what he was doing until he stole other people's powers too. He immediately became the favorite child, and I became the 'test' child."

"The test child?" I asked.

"Yeah. When the hospital came out with a new torture device or something, I had to test it. And if the devices had settings, I had to test each one," he said.

Then I realized that his childhood was as bad as mine, maybe worse.

The rest of the meal was kind of an awkward silence.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: What Happened to Us

We walked back to the cave to find Meghan and Kelly exchanging stories of the Mental Hospital. I immediately got the clothes I was wearing before, and I walked to my shower cave and changed. When I got back, Kelly was telling Meghan about our experiences in the Electric Chair. I sat beside Derek, and he put his arm around me.

When Kelly was done I asked her, "Do you remember the Acid?"

"Ugh, yes!" she exclaimed.

"What's the Acid?" Meghan asked.

"It was this big tank that had what looked like water in it, but it was acid. There was another tank, too. It had water and piranhas in it. They would tie us to a rope that move across the ceiling. We would be dipped in the acid for 10 to 60 seconds, then they would put us close, but not in, the water. The piranhas would bite us over and over again. Then they would start the process over again or put us in the Box," I told them.

"I'm glad that they never did that to me," Meghan said, relieved.

Derek spoke up, "I remember testing that and the Box."

"Testing?" Kelly asked.

"I was their test dummy. I tested many of their inventions. Some worked and some didn't. The ones that didn't usually hurt more," Derek explained.

"So you had to test all the stuff that happened to us and more?" Kelly asked.

"Yeah," he said.

"I assumed that since you were with them, that they wouldn't, like, hurt you or anything," Kelly said.

"Yeah, they don't do that," Derek said.

"So you tested the Ice?" Kelly asked.

"Yeah, that one sucked," he said.

"What's the Ice?" Meghan asked.

"Your stay wasn't that bad, was it?" Kelly asked her.

"Well, they used the Box a lot, but no, not really. But what's the Ice?" Meghan persisted.

"It was a giant tank, and they would put you in it, then they would fill it with ice. But it wasn't normal ice, it was frozen acid. You would stand in the tank and try not to freeze until the acid melted, then you would try to get out," Kelly explained.

"That really sucks," Meghan said. "Did you guys ever go in a gas chamber?"

"No," I said. "I'm guessing it didn't work."

"No, it worked, but it almost didn't," Meghan said.

"What happened?" I asked.

"By the time I did this, they made sure that I had mastered my powers. First they strapped me on a table, and they gave me an injection so that I would pass out. When I woke up, I was in a good sized room with metal walls. At the end of the room there was a door. When I stood up to go to the door the obstacles rose out of the ground and the gas started. The first obstacle was a lion. I killed it using my lightning. The second was an extremely tall wall. On the wall there were spikes. A sign in front of the wall said that if I touched the spikes, I would get poisoned and die. So I used my air power to fly over the wall. By this time the gas was getting to me, so I fell over the wall. When I dropped over the wall, I dropped into a tank filled with water. The sides and bottom had spikes on it. When I was submerged a top came over the tank. The top also had spikes on it. I tried to use my lightning, but I just ended up shocking myself and nearly killing myself. I never went in there again," Meghan told us.

"Wow," Kelly said.

"Yeah, it sucked," Meghan said.

"Well, that's enough depressing talk for today. What's the plan for tomorrow?" Kelly asked.

"I think we should go into town," I suggested. "I remember seeing one when we flew in."

"We don't have any money," Kelly said.

"Eh, we don't need any," I said.

"Oh yeah, your mind powers," Kelly reminded herself.

"Well, I think it's a good idea," Derek said.

"Yeah," Meghan agreed.

"So it's settled, tomorrow we'll go into town," I said.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Town

I woke up to Kelly shaking me awake saying, "Hurry up!"

"Kelly, if you don't shut up and stop shaking me I will burn your face," I threatened lamely.

"Fine, fine, but if you're not up soon we'll go without you," she said.

"You can't go without me, I'm the only one that can control minds," I pointed out.

"Whatever, just get up," Kelly said, giving up.

I sat up to find that everyone else was awake.

"Ok, let's go," I said, walking out of the cave.

Meghan, Kelly, and Derek followed me out. Soon we were in a large field a little ways outside of the town.

"Derek, can you go ahead of us and scout out the town?" I asked him.

"Sure," he said as he ran ahead using his super-speed.

We were quiet for a few minutes.

"It's all good," Derek said returning.

"Good," I said.

"So what all are we getting?" Meghan asked.

"Clothes," Kelly suggested.

"Weapons," I said firmly.

They looked at me with a confused look.

"We need something to protect ourselves other than our powers. We can't solely rely on our powers. What will happen if we get drained?" I elaborated.

"Okay then, the first thing on the list is weapons, the second should be clothes and the third will be food," Meghan said.

We walked the rest of the way in silence.

"We need to stick together, just in case they're here," I said.

"Okay," Kelly said.

"I think the Wal-Mart is closest, we can get clothes there," Derek said.

"From what I understand, the Wal-Mart has everything, so we can check if they have any weapons or food," I said.

We walked about half a mile until we got to the town. The town was not huge, but it wasn't small either. It would be difficult to find our way around, as it is not like Rome which is made for walking. The mid-size town should be big enough for us to get everything we need.

As we were walking, Kelly said, "You know what would be great? If we had laptops."

"Yeah, that would be pretty cool," Meghan said.

They both looked hopefully at me.

"Yeah, I have no qualms with that," I said.

"Yes!" they said.

"As long as we don't have to make any extra stops along the way," I added.

"They should have them at Wal-Mart," Meghan said.

"Good, that should be fine, then," I said.

We came upon the Wal-Mart after walking about 5 blocks.

"Here we are," I said. "We need a way to buy the things we need because little Kelly over here thinks stealing is 'immoral.'"

"Why doesn't Kelly just use her powers to take money out of an ATM?" Meghan suggested.

"Kelly?" I asked.

"Sure, I'll try," she said, walking up to an ATM.

After about a minute of Kelly standing at the machine, it started spitting money out. Bill after bill after bill, it spit out. Afterwards we counted $5,000.

"You think that's enough?" I said sarcastically.

Kelly smiled and handed the wad of cash to me.

"Good, now we're prepared," I said.

We walked into the Wal-Mart, and there were almost no people in it. The 3 cashiers looked at us as we walked in.

_Split up_ _and pretend we don't know each other, _I thought to them. I then formed a thought triangle between us.

_We should get backpacks to carry our stuff, _Meghan thought.

_Good, you do that. Derek, you pick out 4 computers, and Kelly, you will come with me and we'll get some food and clothes, _I thought to them.

The whole time we were there, the workers were staring at us. Each time we picked something up they smiled like no one had bought anything here for years. When we were done shopping we all lined up at the same cashier so that I could give them money.

"Did you find everything you were looking for today, ma'am?" The cashier asked me as she scanned my items.

"Yes I did," I replied.

"The cost is $100.00, even," She said when she finished.

I grabbed five 20s from my pocket.

"Here you go," I said, handing her the money.

"Thank you very much," she said.

I handed the rest of the money to Meghan, who was standing in line behind me, and the process was repeated.

Kelly and I left the store and waited outside for the rest of them to finish. Meghan came out first, then Derek.

"Okay, now we need to split all of the stuff into our bags," I said. "Each person should have an equal amount of food and clothes in case we get separated."

We split the food and clothes almost exactly even between us.

"Now can we go to the weapons store?" Meghan asked eagerly.

"Yes, I think we're all set to go to the weapons store," I replied.

"Good," she said.

We walked to the weapons store, which was about a block away from the Wal-Mart. The store, called Waldo's Weapons, was a small store beside a dark alley. It was made of a kind of stone that made the place look old. Their intention of using the old-looking stone was to make the place look ancient, but by the alley, the place just looked shady.

"Well this looks like just the sort of place where one should buy weapons," Derek said, voicing my thoughts.

"Let's go in," I said after a minute of silence.

We went in and it looked just as I had imagined it. It was dirty and it smelled of smoke and mildew. There were guns lined on the wall and knives on shelves everywhere. There was a man sitting at a counter in the middle of the room who was smoking a cigarette.

"Morgan, it smells bad in here," Kelly whispered to me.

"We'll only be in here for a minute, try and hold your breath," I told her.

"Can I help y'all today?" he asked in a voice that only someone who has been smoking for their entire life can acquire.

"Yes," I said. "We were looking for something that can be carried and fired easily."

"Okie dokie," he said. "That would be on this rack over here."

He showed us to the rack he was referring to. It contained a few Swiss Army Knives, handguns, and other small knives.

"How much would it cost us to get 4 Swiss Army Knives, 2 guns, and 4 of those other knives?" I asked him.

"Well," he said. "The Swiss Army Knives cost $82 each, so 4 of them would be… $328. The guns cost $100 each, and the other knives are $37. In total that's… $676."

"Good, that's cheaper than I expected. We would like to buy them," I said.

_Is just 2 guns okay? _I thought to them.

_Sounds good to me, _Meghan thought to me.

_Yeah, 2 guns sound like more than enough, _Kelly thought.

Derek just nodded.

"Okay, come to the counter and I'll ring you up," the man said.

He brought us to the counter with the 2 guns and 8 knives.

"Okay," he said. "Like I said before, the total will be $676."

"Here you go," I said, handing him $700. "Keep the change."

With that statement we left the store, and it's a good thing we left as soon as we did; Kelly was turning blue. When we got out, everyone let out a breath, as if they couldn't stand the smell of the weapon's store.

"Everyone should get a Swiss Army Knife and a regular knife," I said.

"Who gets the guns?" Meghan asked, pulling her bag off her shoulder so she could put the knives in it.

"Who wants them?" I asked.

Kelly's hand stayed down, as did Derek's, but Meghan's hand shot up. I didn't know why Derek didn't want one. This whole situation worked out great for me, Meghan was the one I was going to give it to anyways; she's the person I trust the most to use a gun if she really needed to, and Kelly's much too young to carry one.

"It's me and Meghan, then," I said, handing Meghan her 2 knives and gun.

_Maybe I shouldn't have armed them so much,_ I thought to myself.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: The Battle

After giving them their weapons we had no more business in the town, so we left. We left the little town and entered the big field. I didn't pay much attention to it on the way in. It was a big field with lush, green grass. On one side were rolling hills, and on the other side was the road to the town. At this point, my attention was drawn to the rolling hills. Well, right in front of the rolling hills, where hundreds of people in bright white suits stood. Each had a badge hanging on their waist that had their name, the word "Sheriff," and, in big, bold letters, the words "MENTAL HOSPITAL."

"This sucks," Kelly said.

"How many do you think there are?" Meghan asked.

"I'd say from four to five hundred," Kelly replied.

"That's about 100 for each of us," Meghan calculated.

"Spread out," I told them, as I walked to the left, never taking my eyes off the workers.

The others spread out as well. _I wonder if Morgan-_

A strong voice yelling "ATTACK!" stopped Derek from finishing his thought.

"Crap," I muttered, too quiet for little Kelly to hear, then I spoke up and said, "Here they come, get ready, y'all!"

Fire started blasting out of my fingers as I rose up in the air. I made a circle of flames protecting us from the mental hospital workers temporarily, and then I started shooting them.

_Keep count, _I thought to them.

"Ten!" Meghan suddenly shouted.

_Crap, I'm two behind her,_ I thought to myself. _Time to step it up a notch._

Lightning burst out of one hand and fire out of the other.

At the sight of this, Meghan shouted, "Not cool, man! That's so cheating!"

"Fine!" I relented, after killing several people with it. "But I'm at 20!"

_What if I used my mind control? _I asked myself. Then, people started doubling over, holding their heads, and rocking back and forth. _That's what happens, _I said, answering my own question. All of the people I used it on stopped moving at the same time. I counted 100 people.

"120!" I shout.

"73!" Kelly yells.

"92!" Meghan screams.

"47," Derek says, sounding a little inferior. His powers are only useful for hand to hand combat.

I did my mind thing again, to 100 people. They doubled over with pain, and then stopped moving. It happened a little quicker than the last time, thankfully. I may be a murderer, but I do it for my own safety, and I want it to hurt as little as possible.

I surveyed the battle. Meghan was using her lightning to kill people, and her wind power to knock them back if they got too close. Kelly was throwing boulders and trees at people with her power, sometimes throwing them back if they got too close. Kelly looked so sweet when she was murdering people. Derek was using his hand to hand combat skills, relying on his invisibility, strength and speed. There were about 100 people left. I could handle that. They cringed, hit the ground, and almost immediately stopped moving. _Yeah, I'm definitely getting better, _I told myself.

"All done!" I shouted to them, just realizing that I was still in the air.

I lowered myself down gracefully.

"Good, let's get back," Meghan said.

"What should we do with the…" Kelly trailed off.

"Leave them. If the Mental Hospital wants them, they can come and get them. I bet they don't want to be discovered as much as we don't, and this would give it away. They'll come and get them," I assured her.

"Let's go!" Meghan hurried us.

"Okay, let's go as fast as we can so we don't run into the Mental Hospital," Kelly said.

Meghan used her wind power to lift her into the air and make her go fast. Kelly sat on a mid-sized rock and lifted it with her power.

Derek walked up to me, "May I?"

"You may," I confirmed.

He picked me up and said, "Watch out, it will be windy."

He started running. Not running, really, it was more like flying. It was so fast. The world was like a blur. The only thing that was stable was him and me. It was like we were the only people in the world with him running. It was the most amazing feeling, but it was over so quickly. We got to the cave in no time at all.

"Wow," I said.

"That's how I was the first time," he replied.

"That was… fast" I said.

Derek laughed at that. "Yeah, I guess it was."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Connected

We sat up against a wall that was made up of a bunch of rocks while we waited for Meghan and Kelly. As soon as we sat down, the wall caved inward and we fell back. When the rocks and dust cleared, we saw that it was a pathway.

"This could be bad," Derek said.

"Should we explore it now or wait until Meghan and Kelly get here?" I asked.

"I say wait so that we can have some backup," he replied.

"Okay," I said.

So we sat and waited. We waited about 10 minutes before they got there, but it felt like forever. They walked into the cave talking happily. As soon as they saw the tunnel, they were stunned and stopped dead in their tracks.

"What the heck happened in here?" Kelly exclaimed after a minute.

"Kelly, language," I reminded her.

"Ummm… well, we were about to sit against the wall and as soon as we touched it, the tunnel collapsed," Derek explained.

"We waited for y'all to get here so we could explore it," I said.

"Well let's go then," Meghan said, pulling the gun out of her bag.

I pulled the gun out of mine as well, but I handed it to Derek and said, "Here, I can't use the gun and my powers at the same time."

"Okay," he replied, and we started walking into the tunnel.

It was unnaturally cold in the tunnel, even when we just walked in. Maybe it was because we were going deeper into the mountain, but it could be because of something unnatural, something evil. I had a bad feeling about this.

It was also unnaturally dark. Even when I made a ball of fire in my hand, there was this darkness looming. Even in the light you could feel this inexplicable darkness. The further we went into the cave, the darker it got.

A strange thing I noticed was that the whole time we were in the cave, it was going downward. It wasn't very steep, but it was gradually declining. This gave me an even worse feeling because whatever was down there was really far down.

_This is giving me chills, _Kelly thought to me. _Yeah, me too, _I told her. Kelly is a child; she doesn't understand why people would need us, or why power is important. She's not afraid to voice her fears or her opinions. I like that she acts like a child. It makes me feel responsible and in charge.

_What's down there, Morgan? _She asked. _I really don't know, _I told her. _I'm scared, _she said after a minute. _Me too, Kelly, _I assured her. _What if we get hurt? _She asked me. _It happens, _I thought to her. _I wish I had your powers_, _then I'd feel safe, _she said after a minute_. Kelly, you could make this whole cave collapse if you wanted to. You can physically move people! I'd feel safer if I were you. All I can do is mess with people's heads, _I thought to her, trying to make her feel better. _I guess so, _she thought.

I stepped near her so that I could hold her hand. She didn't look like she felt secure after my talk with her, but she didn't look more frightened than the rest of us. Now, looking back on it, I realize that when I went to hold her hand it was for my sake just as much as for hers.

At that point I was shivering so hard, my teeth began to clatter. I stopped and pulled out a jacket from my pack. When I put it on I was still cold. It was as if whatever was down there was invading us from the inside out with emptiness and cold.

Then I heard it. Well, its mind anyway. I doubled over in pain, clutching my head. Whatever this thing was, its mind was overwhelming. I couldn't process all of the things going on in its head. It all came out as agonizing pain. I tried to block it out, but it was too strong.

Derek was at my side as soon as I fell, shouting, "Morgan? Morgan!"

I only half heard him through the roaring noise of the creature's mind. There were so many things going through its head; a mind like that could not be human.

Images came through. They were awful, terrible images. One was of the Mental Hospital. Another was a room with white walls, white floors, and white doors- like the ones at the Mental Hospital- in the middle of the room there was a body. It was a girl with brown, shoulder-length hair who was medium sized with a bloody dagger sticking from her chest. Beside her was a man in a suit so white, it hurt my eyes. He was laughing at her dying. A thought came through with this image: _There will be much, much more of this when the Hospital takes over. _

_What will they take over? _I thought with what little will I had left. _The world, my friend, and you will help, _the thing said to me. _You can hear my thoughts?_ I asked it, confused. Every time I thought something, it physically pained me. _Yes. I have been watching you since you came into this world. We are connected, and you will help it take over, _it told me. _If we're connected, couldn't you also be helping me to bring the Hospital down? _I asked it, still trying to fight. _Quite possible, but you don't have enough will to control me. Look, you're just at the edge of my mind and you're writhing in pain, _he pointed out. _I will get stronger. You may as well be at your peak, _I said. _It may be so, but it's doubtful that you will ever be strong enough to handle me. Oh, and before you black out- which I imagine will be soon- don't tell your little friends about this. It's our secret, and remember, we're connected, _he said. Then I blacked out, just like he said.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Capture the Flag

When I opened my eyes, the sun flowed into them. Its brightness burned since I was in the cave so long. _Cave… pictures… connected… _I thought. The memories flooded back to me._ What was that thing? _I thought. _It doesn't matter what I am, but now that you've entered my mind I will always be in yours, _it said. _You're back? _I mind-shouted at it. _Oh, Morgan, I never left, _it said.

"Morgan! You're awake!" Derek exclaimed.

"Yeah, I guess I am. How long have I been out?" I asked him, trying to pretend that nothing happed.

"About a day," he informed me.

"Where are the others?" I asked him, worried that the creature got them.

"They're training in case there's another battle," he said.

"That's good," I replied.

"What happened back there?" He asked me, sounding a little worried.

"I… uh," I stammered.

_What should I tell him? _I asked myself. _Tell him you sensed something and it hurt your head, _came the unexpected reply from my little voice.

"I was looking for people around, you know, with my mind, and I sensed something and it hurt my head before I could get out of its mind," I lied.

"Oh, okay. Do you know what it was?" he asked me.

_Say no._

"No, I'm not sure what it was," I told him.

"Wouldn't you know that if you were inside its head?" he asked me, not fully believing my story.

"Not necessarily. You have to judge by the thoughts. If whatever it was didn't know what it was, neither would I," I explained.

"That makes sense," he said.

_Thanks, _it said. _Why am I even doing this for you? _I sneered. _Because we're connected. Don't you feel it? That inexplicable bond you feel to me? _it said. I did feel something. It was like I felt a civic need to do what it said. _What should I call you? _I asked it. _I have many names, _it said. _Well start listing, because the ones I have picked are explicit, _I told it. _Some call me "The Darkness." For others I simply go by "It." Once I was called "The Black Smoke." Is that sufficient? _It asked. _Yes, _I said.

"So what have you guys been doing while I was out?" I asked Derek, trying to distract myself from The Darkness.

"I hate to admit this, but we have been waiting for you to wake up and tell us what to do," he told me.

I laughed and said, "The only thing we need to do right now is get out of here."

"Maybe we could stay a little longer," he said, leaning in towards me.

_Didn't I tell you I wasn't good at this? _I asked rhetorically. _Didn't I tell you I'd guide you? _He replied, leaning in further and putting his arms around me.

The kiss was soft and soothing, not savage and hungry like I had imagined. It was gentle and nice as my mouth melted into his. _Should we tell the others I'm awake? _I thought to him. _Maybe later, _he replied, still kissing me. _What if they walk in? _I asked him nervously, not wanting to repeat what happened last time. _They'll get over it, _he replied. On that note, I stopped arguing.

It seemed like a while before I pulled away, but I did. I had to. I had to tell Meghan and Kelly that I was alright.

"Sorry, I have to make sure that they know I'm okay," I said to him.

"I know, I know," Derek said. "Maybe later sometime?" he stroked my face.

I smiled, "Yeah."

"Let's go," he said, pulling his arms back.

We got up and walked out of the cave. Meghan and Kelly were at the very top of the mountain, which was a ways up. Derek and I decided to walk to the top, so that we wouldn't drain our powers. When we got to the top, Meghan and Kelly were fighting each other.

"What are you guys doing?" I asked them.

They both stopped and looked at me.

"Morgan, you're awake!" Kelly exclaimed.

"Yeah, I am," I said.

"We're training," Meghan said, answering my question.

"That's a good use of your time," I said.

"Would you like to join in?" Meghan asked.

"Sure," I said.

"Okay, so the teams are you and Derek, and Kelly and me. It's like capture the flag, except we use our powers," Meghan said.

"Is this supposed to be a competition?" I asked playfully.

"Ha-ha," she replied dryly.

"So where's the flag?" I asked.

"We've been using our shirts. Yours is the pink one on the rock over there," she gestured towards the rock, "and ours is the orange one, but it's hidden already. You can hide it anywhere on that side of the mountain."

_Derek, you wanna hide the flag? _I asked him. _Sure, _he said, already running faster than the eye can see. In less than a minute he was back at my side. _Where is it? _I asked. _I put it behind a tree, _he said.

"You can get tagged if you cross the line in the mountain, then you get captured if you are tagged. If you are captured you must find a way to escape. Now, go!" Meghan announced.

Derek turned himself invisible and ran to the other side of the mountain to look for their flag. Meghan used her shadow traveling powers to look for our flag. I just invaded Kelly's mind to find the place where they hid their flag. _Oh, I love my powers, _I thought to myself.

I crossed the line right in front of Kelly, and she ran after me. I made her stop with my mind power, but she threw me back with her power. I made more fire, but this time, it was blue.

"Cool!" I shouted to her.

"Brilliant," she said sarcastically.

I ran for the rock again, but this time I blocked her from using all of her powers. Well, all of the ones I knew of. She held out her hand, trying for the water power, but nothing came out. She gave me a confused look.

"That's what you get!" I shouted at her, running for the rock.

"Come on! That's not fair!" she shouted.

"Life isn't fair, honey!" I yelled back.

She held out her hand again and this green liquid came spewing out at me. Luckily, it missed and hit the rock. It completely dissolved the rock.

"What," I screamed, "was that?"

"Acid generation, just like Derek said," she told me, sounding impressed and surprised.

While she was basking in the glory of her new power, I grabbed the shirt and ran back to our side of the line using Derek's speed.

"That is not fair!" she shouted again.

"Sorry!" I told her, insincerely.

_I won! _I mind-shouted to everybody so that they would get back here.

Meghan appeared out of Kelly's shadow, and Derek came walking out of the woods. Meghan looked a little annoyed.

"Every time it was just Kelly, Derek, and me, Kelly and I won, but the minute you come prancing out here, you win in no time flat. Not cool, man," Meghan told me.

"What can I say? I'm amazing," I said, smiling.

"I concur," Derek, who suddenly appeared at my side, said.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17: David Makes an Appearance

"I got my acid generation!" Kelly said after a minute of silence.

"That's good, now we have something for you to work on," Derek said, taking his eyes off me.

"Can we start now?" Kelly asked eagerly.

"Sure," Derek said, walking over to her.

Meghan walked towards me.

"So, what should we work on?" I asked her.

"Combining our powers would be good, but Kelly's the only one with two of those kinds of powers," Meghan said.

"Yeah, ours are kind of boring," I said.

"Ours are better from a battle perspective, though," she said.

"And I can do this!" I said, mixing her lightning and my fire into a shocking, vibrant blast from my palm.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Maybe you should practice Kelly's acid power too," she said.

"I think I will," I told her.

I made Kelly imagine me shooting acid out of my hands. When I opened my eyes, we both had the ugly, green liquid coming from our hands.

"Sorry!" I shouted.

"It's fine," she told me, stopping the acid from coming.

"Okay, that went well," Meghan said. "Try again."

This time I did it without messing Kelly up.

"That was fast," she said.

"Hey, if I mix the acid and the fire, it will make acid fire!" I exclaimed.

When I mixed them, the substance spewing out of my hand was orange with some green swirled in. I aimed it towards a rock, and the substance melted the rock faster than it did when it was just acid.

"Wow," Meghan said.

"What's the hottest form of fire," I said, thinking of ways I could better my powers.

"Either magma or lightning," She said.

"Good, let's try making a mini volcano, want to?" I asked Meghan.

"Awesome!" she shouted.

We gathered up some rocks that I molded together and to the mountain.

"Are you ready?" I asked her.

"Let's go," she told me, backing up.

"You make the ash," I told her.

"Deal," she replied.

I made a little explosion with the magma, and that's when Meghan started with the ash. I made the magma flow slowly down our mini volcano, and, as the lava cooled, it turned into a beautiful igneous rock.

"Sweet," she said.

"That's really cool, Meghan," Derek said, walking over here.

"Thanks?" she said, confused.

_Did he just say "That's really cool, _Meghan_"? _I asked myself. _Even in the situations where I didn't do most of the work, he would compliment me before Meghan, or both of us. We better see what's going on in there, _I told myself.

_Look at that cute little volcano that Meghan made! I wish I could do things like that… wait, I can. _He then laughed evilly in his head.

_Nope, that's not Derek, _I told myself. _But what do I do about it? _I asked myself. _My vote is you should kill him, _The Black Smoke told me. _No, he's the only way I can find Derek, _I thought to it. _Don't worry about Derek. You don't need him anyways. It's just us that matter, Morgan, _It said to me. I sighed in my mind. _You don't understand how much I need him, _I told It. _I'm inside your head right now, so I do. You don't need him, you want him,_ the Darkness informed me. _Shut up! _I yelled at it. _Soon you will have to make a choice, Morgan. I'm just trying to warn you so you can make the right decision, _It said.

_Y'all know that that's David, right? _I thought to Meghan and Kelly, trying to forget about what the Black Smoke said. _Yep, _Meghan replied. _Uh-huh, _Kelly said. _Good, we've been practicing for this. Are you guys ready? _I asked. _Nope, _they both thought simultaneously. _Well, that's too bad. Let's roll, _I said.

"Flame on!" I screamed as I caught my whole body on fire and ran to David.

"What the he-," he was cut off by Meghan shocking him with her electricity power.

"What are you guys doing?" David screamed.

"Oh, you're still trying to pretend you're Derek. Well, too bad!" I told him as I moved closer with my flaming body.

Kelly knocked him on the ground using her telekinesis and he started scooting away as I moved closer.

"I- I don't know what you're talking about!" David stammered.

"We know that you're not Derek, you can stop this little act of yours," I shouted as Kelly blasted him with razor sharp ice sickles.

"Fine, fine, you caught me," he said.

He used Meghan's air powers to get himself back on his feet. Then he tried to douse us with water, but Kelly made it turn back on him. Then, Meghan shocked him with her electricity.

"Where's Derek?" I asked him.

"I'll never tell," he replied with a sick smile on his face.

Then, I did the one thing he was not expecting. I jumped on him. I leaped through the air, still on fire, and I pinned him. He started screaming as he caught on fire.

"Let me ask you again, David; WHERE IS DEREK?" I yelled at him.

"They took him to the Mental Hospital in a white van!" David sobbed.

I could tell he wasn't lying, so I extinguished my fire, but I didn't get off of him in fear of him hurting Meghan and Kelly. Instead I made a pair of handcuffs around his wrists with fire. I then attached the fire handcuffs to the ground with chains made of fire. I did the same with his feet, and then I got off of him. The only weird thing was that when I got off of him, he was smiling.

"That's it," he said, as if he had made some sort of big discovery.

"That's what?" I asked him.

He started laughing.

"What?" I yelled at him.

"Your weakness! They thought you didn't have one, but everyone has one," he said.

"What's my weakness?" I asked him in disbelief.

"It's Derek," he said, "and Meghan and Kelly. It's that you would do whatever it takes to save the people you care about. It's quite an admirable trait, but it's also a deadly weakness."

I sat there, looking at him quizzically. _I can't believe I didn't realize this before, _I said to myself. _How did he figure that out so fast, though? _I wondered.

"You know, there's one thing that Derek didn't know about me," he said.

"What's that?" I asked him.

"I can do this," he said. Then he was gone.

"Ugh!" I screamed.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Emotions are the Trick

"Morgan?" Kelly asked, "Are you okay?"

"No! He got away, and now he's going to hurt Derek!" I yelled.

"I can find Derek," Meghan said.

"What?" I asked.

"Well, I can find his shadow," she told me.

"How? He's probably 20 miles from here at this point," I said.

"My shadow power, it didn't just let me travel through shadows, it gave me an entrance into a new world: the Shadow World," she said.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" I told her.

"Okay, okay, gosh," Meghan said. "Now Kelly, hold one hand, and Morgan, you hold the other."

"Umm, what?" I asked her.

"If you have physical contact with me and I allow you to, you can travel with me through the shadows," she said.

I grabbed her hand. Then it happened. We entered the world of Shadows. Everything was gray and black, even us! We were shadows now!

"What am I supposed to be looking for?" I asked.

"Just let me do that, and neither of you let go of my hand! If you do you will be lost forever in this world. Even I won't be able to find you," she told us.

Then we sped off. After a while, she stopped by a light shadow. If she had not pointed it out to me, I would not have even seen it.

"This is it," she said. "Now, you need to be prepared for whatever is out there. There's no telling what it could be."

"Okay, I'm ready," I said, letting out a deep breath.

"Me too," Kelly said.

We appeared back in a small, white room that felt like it was in a car. I saw Derek sitting on the ground and I rushed to him.

"Derek, are you okay?" I asked.

He looked as if he was in pain.

"You came?" he whispered hoarsely.

"I'll always come," I assured him.

He kissed me quickly on the cheek.

"How are we going to get out of here?" Derek asked, directing the question to all of us.

"Like this," Kelly said, and then she made acid come from her hands and burn a hole through the side of the van.

"Can you walk?" I asked him.

"Yes," he said getting up.

It looked like he was in pain, so I put his arm on my shoulder so he could stand better.

"Let's blow this popsicle stand!" Kelly said, and then she jumped out of the van.

_Kelly, where did you learn that? _I asked her. _The internet, _she thought back.

Meghan followed her. Derek limped over to the door, half-leaning on me, and we jumped out. The minute we hit the ground, Derek cringed.

"Are you okay?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said. "Let's just get out of here."

"Where are we going to go with you hurt?" I asked.

"Out of the road, there's a car coming," he replied.

We walked to the side of the road and I sat Derek down.

"Where's it hurt?" I asked him.

"My leg, why?" he said.

"Did you ever notice that when they tortured you, you healed unnaturally fast?" I asked him.

"Yeah, they injected me with something that made that happen," he replied.

"They did that to all of us, so what if we could direct the healing energy and use it? Then we could heal ourselves faster than we already do," I said, directing the response towards everyone.

"That's a good idea," Meghan said.

"But, how are we supposed to do that?" Kelly asked.

"I guess the same way we use our other powers," I told her.

I put my hand on Derek's leg. _Okay, Voice, now would be a nice time to help, _I told It. _Ah, yes, healing. There's a trick to this one, but you have to figure this out on your own, _It told me. _Come on, just a little help, _I pleaded. _All of your powers are triggered by an emotion. Lightning is hate. Fire is anger. Water is peace. All you have to do is find the trigger, _The Black Smoke said.

_Find the trigger, okay, here we go, _I thought to myself. _What could it be? Hate, anger, and peace are already taken… what about sympathy? _I tried this and got nothing. _Envy? _This also came up with nothing. _What else is there? _I asked it. _Much, much more. There is a world of emotions out there, just think of the right one and you're golden. What do you think of when I say "healing"? _The Darkness asked. _Love, _I replied. _Ohhh, _I said.

I didn't have to think of much for this. I thought about that woman in Greg's vision. I thought about Meghan. I thought about Kelly. Then, I thought about Derek. I opened my eyes and there was an off white glow coming from my hands. I put it on Derek's leg.

"Wow," he said. "That was fast."

"Does it feel better?" I asked.

"Much," he replied. "Thanks."

"Always," I told him.


End file.
